MUSKEGON, Mich. — By now, we all know road commissions apply road salt to add traction and prevent ice from forming. However, that process doesn't happen without a little boost.
“Road salt itself loses about 70% of its effectiveness between 25 and 20 degrees," Zach Clothier told FOX 17. "So, in order to have the same level of service for a road commission, for instance, they have to up their application rates, you know, tenfold, to try to achieve the same level of service.”
That's one option, of course.
Clothier, though, explained to FOX 17 a more efficient, cost-effective solution: spraying that road salt with liquid calcium chloride before it hits the ground.
"It will allow that rock salt to work in the lower temperatures; it will reduce the bounce and scatter, ultimately lowering the amount of salt put in an environment," he said.
Many companies, like Great Lakes Chloride, where Clothier is an account executive, add what's called a Boost to that product.
FOX 17 has done stories in the past about some testing and using beet juice, which is a carbohydrate that, when mixed with the calcium chloride, acts as a deicing agent.
RELATED: MDOT may test beet juice to combat snow and ice on the road
Basically, the sugars in the beet juice slow down the freeze process on the road.
At GLC, they use a similar sugarcane-based carbohydrate inhibitor to get the same result.
“There's many different additives out there that can be effective," Clothier said. "But generally, when you add sugar to ice and snow operation, you're just trying to slow the freeze process. It's not gonna eliminate any ice or snow. So, you need the chlorides there, still, to melt those off the road.”
Road commissions, like the one in Muskegon County, coat their road salt with that boosted liquid calcium chloride solution right before it hits the road.
Clothier said to think of it like a glue for the salt and an activator for the product's melting power.
Plus, it's 85% less corrosive than just using plain road salt.
“It allows to put less chlorides in the environment by providing the same level of melting capacity," he said.
Clothier mentioned GLC supplies more than a million gallons of their liquid calcium chloride with Boost to road commissions all over the state every year.
The product's addition to road salt is a quick but crucial part of the process to keep you safe behind the wheel during a storm.
